Monday, 13 February 2012

The Miserable Rich are a curious phenomenon. Having released their third album last year, they're still struggling to make a major breakthrough in the UK despite gathering a loyal but small following, whilst their contemporaries such as The Leisure Society get critical plaudits and festival and prestigious support slots. In contrast, on the Continent, they've built on momentum from their early releases to the extent they can go on a month long tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and, despite the double-digit minus temperatures and the fact it's Sunday evening, come close to filling venues like Studio 672 in Cologne.

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Danger USB...

The seemingly never-ending saga of “The Gathering Sound”, the career-spanning James box-set

Given the hype over the return of their contemporaries from the “Madchester” era, you would think a record label would be falling over themselves to sell us a career-spanning boxset from James, whose upward career trajectory and roots coincided to give them the dubious pleasure of being placed in that music press box.